I've always liked the perspective a tilt shift lens can give you when used the 'wrong' way. Tilt-shift lenses are often used to give a huge depth of field, but they can also be used for the opposite effect. I bought a 24mm tilt-shift a while ago and found the learning curve so steep that I gave up on it and resorted to some photoshop tricks to get the job done. The end result isn't quite as convincing as using the real lens, but it still looks interesting.

Thanks for looking.

-steve

Las Vegas

Singapore

Taipei

Seattle

Paris

BTW - I wasn't sure if this belongs here or in the Technical and Scientific Photography forum. Mods-Please feel free to move.

Those are really interesting photos Steve. This is the first time I've actually been able to compare a tilt and shift photo with a normal one since I've actually seen the shot of Singapore both in photos and in person. Why is it that these lenses seem to make everything look fake when shot this way? It looks like the shots we taken of a diorama. Heres a slide show+commentary by a NY Times photographer on these kind of lenses that I found a while back.

These are interesting shots! At first glance, I thought you had shot a model, like in a model train layout. I haven’t seen anything like it, you may have hit on something unique.

Here's something even closer to a model train layout...

Bangkok

grahamnp - I'm so glad you pointed out that photographer and website. I remember looking through a photography book a few years ago and saw one of his photos of a soccer game. It was his photos that inspired me to go out and give this a try. His mastery of the tilt-shift lens is phenomenal. It takes a long time to master that technique. I took the easy way out and cheated by using photoshop.

I saw the link on Digg a while back and though you might be interested. That shot really does look like a model train. I would have believed anyone if they told me it was from a toy manufacturer's websites. Tilt and shift seems like a really interesting form of photography.

Hi Steve, thanks for posting the photos - I love the effect you can get with tilt and shift on landscapes and the way everything looks like a toy or miniature.

So all of those were manipulated digitally rather than using the actual lens? It would be interesting to see the same subject with the effect applied optically compared to the effect applied digitally...

Please also feel free to give us any tips on performing the manipulation!

Freakin China....looks like they've banned pics from Wordpress.com now....aarrgghhh As if recently banning youtube wasn't enough....aarrgghhh What the hell is the government afraid of its people seeing!!

Sorry...rant over! Just frustrated I couldn't see your pics Steve, they sound really good. Hope Firefox gets new anti-China plugins soon like they did for Flickr

Edit: Just noticed the ban on Youtube has been lifted....that's something!

You'll notice in that gallery that some images work better than others. The stadium example for instance didn't come out as well. The Tuscan hillside photo isn't very convincing either.

**On an interesting side note. Many of those photos were taken while flying a small Cessna 182 over Seattle last summer. Even post 9/11 it was surprisingly easy to get permission to circle over the port of Seattle, the ferry terminals and the stadium. Flying directly over Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was also a non issue.**

Thanks for the alternative link, the pics are great! I really like that effect. The ones like the aeroplane about to take off, the ship in the port and the train look just like a model world...that's a really clever effect. I like playing around with Photoshop so no doubt I will just have to give that a try sometime.

Graham, thanks for the link about the free proxy....I will definitely try that and see if it works....sounds like it should do.

A tilt-shift lens is normally used to get rid of converging lines and create straight lines in architectural photography, but the lens itself is expensive and the learning curve is rather steep. When the lens is used for other purposes it can create interesting illusions that look like models. Here’s a quick way to create those interesting images without that expensive lens.

**Tip – Start with a photo that is taken from an elevated position, the effect seems to be more pronounced when you’re done.**

Step 1

Here’s the original image and the Gradient Tool shown by the arrow.

• Load your choice of images
• Press SHIFT+Q to enter quick mask mode
• Find the Gradient Tool
• Click the Reflected Gradient (along top menu bar, see screen shot below)
• Click and drag the mouse across the image (Once you let go, you’ll see that a portion of the image has been masked off in red. See below)
• Press SHIFT+Q to exit quick mask mode

This is a critical step. You will be masking off the portion of the image that will stay in focus in the next step. You may want to experiment with ways to mask off your image to create different effects.

Here’s the area masked off after using the Reflected Gradient (shown by arrow).

Step 2

After you have exited the quick mask mode you’ll see the moving dashed lines.

Go to:
Filter→Blur→Lens Blur and then you’ll see this pallet and a preview of your image.

This is the window you’ll see after you enter the Lens Blur filter. The only option I adjust here is the radius. An adjustment in the radius of between 50 and 80 is usually enough.

Click OK when finished and let Photoshop apply the action.

Step 3

Since the whole idea of this miniaturization is to create a model-like scene I like to make adjustments that create an artificial look. This can be done with a couple simple steps using unsharp mask (USM) and saturation. Try slightly over sharpening and over saturating to create a model-like image.

After a little cropping here’s the final image.

You’re done!

[edit-poor phrasing. btw- Please let me know if you find typos or errors. I would be more than happy to go back and revise any mistakes.]